Arrangements finalized to conduct 6th population census from March 15

ISLAMABAD, Jan 16 (APP): The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics
(PBS) has finalized all arrangements to conduct much-awaited 6th
population census from March 15, 2017, official sources
said Monday.
“The census will be held in two phases starting from March 15,
2017,” they told APP.
The first phase would be completed in mid April, while the
second phase is likely to be initiated from April 24 and would end
in mid May.
Preliminary results of the national population census would
start arriving in June, which would be made public accordingly, the
sources informed.
For conducting the census, the PBS has already divided the
country’s population into 168,120 blocks, each block consisting of
about 200 to 250 households, the sources said, adding that over
84,000 enumerators would be involved in the nationwide exercise.
The bureau has made all arrangements to conduct the exercise
in a transparent manner and has already imparted training to the
staff for conducting the exercise.
Talking about the security situation, the sources said that
Pakistan Army would be providing security for conducting the
nationwide exercise, adding that one army personnel for each
enumerator would be engaged for ensuring the smooth and secure data collection.
In first phase as per the schedule, the census will being in
Khyber Pakhtunkhawa from Mardan and Peshawar, in Punjab from
Faisalabad, Dera Ghazi Khan and Sargodha, in Balochistan from
Quetta, Zhob, Sibbi and Makran and in Sindh from Karachi and
Hyderabad.
In the Federal Capital, the population count would be
conducted in the first phase, however the AJK, Gilgit Baltistan and
FATA would be covered in the second phase.
Meanwhile, for the first time in the history of Pakistan, the
country’s transgender community will be included in the national
population census.
The Lahore High Court had instructed the federal government,
National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and the
Ministry of Interior to include the transgender community in the
census.
It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan had last
conducted its population census in 1998 and according to the law
federal government is subjected to hold census after every ten
years.